I can only Hope

I was reading Relevant Magazine today and an article I read really spoke to me. The author was talking about how he was preparing a sermon for Easter and he knows that a lot of people only go to church on Easter and Christmas and he wanted to give a sermon that would make them want to come back.  So he was reading through the Gospels and reading different times when Jesus spoke to big crowds and he found that the message Jesus gave was often one that caused people to leave.  He said that he apologized to the congregation that Sunday for sometimes "selling Jesus cheaply and watering down the Gospel."  He said that he would often times leave out hard scriptures that made it clear that "the invitation to follow Jesus was an invitation to serve, sacrifice and even suffer."  He quoted Luke 9:23 "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take their cross daily and follow me."

As time draws closer for me to move to China, I feel like this is the message that God has been giving me.  I need to serve more and sacrifice more and yes, scary as it is, maybe even suffer.  I will have a lot of time on my hands in China and I hope to fill my time finding ways to serve others and spending more time with God.  I have felt that God has been telling me there are going to be a lot of lessons to learn in China.  And I pray I am open and prepared to learn what God has to teach me.

I have always considered myself a rather weak person.  So I can only hope to grow through this process.  I am sure there will be many sacrifices.  Don't get me wrong, I know we will not have a hard life in China. In some ways we will have a great life in China.  I don't have to work ;o), we will have a larger house, by no means will we be scraping to get by.  But I will be sacrificing time with my family and close friends, sacrificing the comforts of home and things that are familiar, not knowing the language, etc...  And I can only hope that the sacrifices I do have to make, make me spiritually and emotionally stronger.

I want to leave you with a quote from Dallas Willard that has been a quote I go back to often to remind me that there is more to this "Jesus thing"  than just going to church on Sunday or praying to Him when I want something.  I need to do my part to try and be the disciple that He has called me to be.  

"There is absolutely nothing in what Jesus Himself or His early followers taught that suggest you can decide just to enjoy forgiveness at Jesus's expense and have nothing more to do with Him."
-Dallas Willard from The Great Omission